Ramu Yalamanchi - San Francisco

Ramu Yalamanchi is the founder and chief executive officer of hi5 Networks, Inc. Ramu oversees key partnerships, business and product strategy, and helps guide the overall growth of the organization. After launching hi5 in 2003, Ramu brought the service to profitability within the first year of operation, and continues to drive the evolution of the service and business to millions of customers worldwide.Prior to starting hi5, Ramu played a key role in technology companies that have advanced online advertising and the progression of Internet communities. He was an early contributor serving in product management, business development, and sales at eGroups (acquired by Yahoo!) and AdKnowledge (acquired by CMGI). In his final year of college, Ramu helped launch Sponsornet – the Web?s first advertising network. Prior to these experiences, Ramu learned about company building and business leadership from his entrepreneurial father, who established and managed more than a half dozen companies as Ramu was growing up in the suburbs of Chicago.

Ramu holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Illinois – Urbana, Champaign.